Obama Rips McCain Over Economy

(CBS)

ERIE, PA. -- Barack Obama went after John McCain today, fiercely criticizing comments that he made in a Bloomberg television interview yesterday. In the interview, McCain said despite the current economic struggles that many are enduring, the economy has made progress under George Bush.

"I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there's been great progress economically over that period of time," McCain said. "But that's no comfort. That's no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges."

Obama jabbed at McCain's use of the word "progress," asking the crowd, "How could somebody who has been traveling across this country, somebody who came to Erie, Pennsylvania, and say we've made great progress?"

Obama called McCain "disconnected" from voters, an assertion that both Clinton and McCain made about him after the "bitter" controversy broke a week a go.

"Only somebody who spent two decades in Washington could make a statement as disconnected from the hard times we are facing all across the nation," Obama said. "Only somebody whose campaign is run by Washington lobbyists could think we're making great progress while so many Americans are struggling."

The McCain campaign responded by calling Obama "recklessly dishonest." "It is clear that Barack Obama is intentionally twisting John McCain's words completely out of context," said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman. "Obama is guilty of deliberately distorting John McCain's comments for pure political gain, which is exactly what Senator Obama was complaining about just yesterday."

Obama did admit that the economy has expanded under Bush, but with a caveat. "Our economy actually expanded over the past seven years, that's true," Obama said. "But here's the thing, this was the first economic expansion in which average families incomes actually went down, not up. It's never happened before."